We covered some big resume space wasters that you can reduce or remove from your resume to help you when your resume is spilling onto an errant extra page.
But what if your resume is still oozing onto an extra unintended page, like when you squeeze too much toothpaste on your toothbrush?
By popular demand, we’re now going to cover some super easy resume space savers that can help make your resume perfectly fit that goal 1 page, 2 pages, or more.
While we can’t put toothpaste back in the tube, we have a lot of options for reversing word ooze on your resume.
Now I need to remind you, there is no rule around number of pages that are or aren’t acceptable in a resume. Your resume needs to be as long as it needs to be to tell your story the right way. I have a whole video on resume page length that you can watch after this video.
While the number of pages truly does not matter, we want our resumes to look well-planned and intentional. So when we have a straggler page with a couple lines spilling onto it, this doesn’t look well-planned nor intentional. We’ll want to clean that up.
And in this video, I’m not going to talk about actually cutting any content, or being more targeted or concise with your writing. That’s covered in a number of previous videos.
We’ll be taking a look at super easy space saving techniques that I and many other resume writers use every day, that you can use too. These techniques also make sure to balance the necessity of white space, which is needed in order to make your resume as readable as possible.
Resume Margins
The default margins in Microsoft Word are 2.54 cm or 1 inch for those of you who prefer the imperial measurement system.
2.54 cm for a margin is thicc. Yes, with a double C.
Your margins don’t need to be that wide.
I like to use a 1.5 cm margin all the way around which is just shy of .6 of an inch.
Header And Footer Spaces On Your Resume
While we’re playing in the margins, let’s take a look at margins’ cousins, the header and footer.
While we don’t ever want to put important information in the header and the footer as it will create work for us when uploading our resume to online applications and force us to re-enter the information contained in these sections, we can optimize the space to give us more space for content.
I recommend reducing the height of the header and footers to be 1 cm each. This won’t be a very visible change, but sometimes it can gain us a whole line.
Resume Fonts And Font Sizes
Next, check out your resume fonts and font sizes.
I have a whole video on resume fonts that you can check out later.
Some fonts are taller or wider than others. You can try playing around with fonts, and can also consider reducing your font size down a bit.
If you’re having trouble fitting your resume on your intended pages, consider dropping the font size, but go no smaller than 10 point font.
Font size has nothing to do with the Applicant Tracking System or ATS, but the human reader and what’s comfortable for them to read.
Resume Paragraph and Line Spacing
The spacing in between paragraphs and lines can make a real difference as well.
By default, Microsoft Word will add an automatic space after paragraphs, which can often leave you doubling up on spacing between sections on your profile, or worse, lead to inconsistent spacing.
So first, you’ll want to make sure that you’re removing the default setting of space after paragraph, and also check to make sure you’ve done the same for space before paragraph.
In addition to this, and this is by far one of the easiest changes you can make that has a huge resume impact, is to change line spacing from the default 1.15 to 1.0.
Just watch how much of an impact this has.
Reduce Height Of White Space Lines On Resume
While we’re talking about spacing, let’s talk about the white space or blank lines in between different sections on your resume.
You can easily reduce these lines as well, without compromising readability. The only thing you’ll want to make sure you do is do this with consistency. Don’t shorten the white space lines only in a few spots and not others, or your document will look imbalanced.
Using Single Lines In Your Resume Volunteering Section
If you do opt to include a volunteering or community involvement section on your resume, you can easily list your volunteering on single lines for each engagement like this. Doing so will save you at least one line per volunteer role.
Using Single Lines In Your Resume Education, Certifications, and Professional Development Sections
Similarly, you can do the exact same thing for your education, certifications, and professional development sections on your resume, and enter each credential on a single line.
These are just a few of the easy resume space savers that you can use to keep your resume fitting nicely on your intended page length.
Which one of these resume space saving techniques will you try? Is there anything that you’re struggling with on your resume? Tell me how I can help in the comments below.
0 Comments